Foyt bumps his way into Indy field before crash

AP PhotoA.J. Foyt IV slides through the third turn after his car made contact with the wall during practice for the Indianapolis 500.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A.J. Foyt IV had to deal with wind and then fire Sunday before his starting spot in the 92nd Indianapolis 500 was secure.

At least it didn't rain.

The grandson of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt began the final day of qualifying for the May 25 race as a non-qualifier, needing to bump his way into the 33-car field.

The biggest obstacle was the howling wind, blowing at a steady 20 mph and also gusting at times at least 10 mph harder.

But Foyt, who tried twice Saturday to qualify -- getting caught by the wind and nearly hitting the wall on his first attempt and having the second try aborted before he even began by a broken gearbox -- persevered. Moments after the 2.5-mile oval was opened for qualifying at noon, the 23-year-old driver gritted his teeth and made a solid, four-lap qualifying run averaging 219.184 mph.

That was easily good enough to bump Marty Roth, the slowest of the first 33 qualifiers at 215.506, from the tentative field.

"It's not easy," Foyt said. "Each corner you have to approach a little bit differently. It is really tough, especially the speed you carry around here. ... I'm just glad to get out there and put four laps in."

About 90 minutes later, Roth, a 49-year-old Canadian land developer and father of five, bounced back into the lineup with a four-lap run of 218.965 that knocked 1996 Indy winner Buddy Lazier's 217.939 out of the field and put the 218.010 of Roger Yasukawa "on the bubble" as the slowest qualifying speed.

"We're not focusing on a track record here, folks," Roth said. "Just focusing on the bottom two rows where bumping is going to take place. We just have to play it safe. It's just being responsible and not going crazy, crossing the line resulting in a crash and missing the show."

After Roth's run the track opened for practice and Foyt was involved in the scariest moment of the day.

He was running laps, working on race setup and preparing for the possibility of being bumped and having to requalify, when the cover to his fuel tank blew off. That allowed fuel to pour out of the tank and ignite from the heat of the engine. Within seconds, the rear of Foyt's Vision Racing entry was a ball of flame and his car backed hard into the outside wall.

The fire left Foyt, seeking his fifth Indy start, with a small burn on the back of his neck and singed hair. But he was cleared to drive as the team prepared a backup car, just in case.

"I'm fine mentally, and crashes like this, where you know what happened and what caused it, you can brush those off pretty quick," Foyt said. "It's when you snap loose and crash and don't really know what happened, that's what gets to your head."

Still, he acknowledged this was a scary incident, particularly because of the fireball.

"Anyone who is not afraid of fire, I think is crazy," said Foyt, standing in his grandfather's garage. "Fire's the worst thing for me. It was scary. The important thing is that the protection we had, was why we had no (other) burns.

"We know who did it. I don't want to single anyone out, but he's probably going to be looking for a new job and it's too bad because he's a good guy. He just made a mistake."

Foyt was asked if the elder Foyt, his former boss who has two cars of his own in the field, was upset by his scary crash.

"He was worried," the youngster said. "You know, he's a grandfather first of all. And then he gets mad at the guy who did it. There's really no excuse for that."

Tony George, founder of the IRL, head of the speedway and owner of Vision Racing, agreed the mistake in leaving the cover loose was inexcusable.

"Any time you have human beings involved, there's always the potential for human error and that's what it was in this case," George said. "It doesn't change the fact that this is a business where attention to detail is critical and waking up every morning and understanding that you are responsible for people's safety and lives. It's unfortunate. I'm sure the person responsible is very sorry and very aware of it. It's just one of those things."